The Guidance Wealth Difference


Guidance works with individuals, families, trusts and estates, businesses and not-for-profit entities. 


Integrity and Objectivity
The largest percentage of “advisors” in the industry are “brokers” (called registered representatives) or “agents” selling commission-based products.  When working for commission sales, they can have difficulty objectively representing their clients’ best interests because they are being specifically told, or otherwise encouraged by their employer, to sell you something.  By contrast, as a Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) firm*, Guidance and its representatives are primarily fee-based, which allows us to act with complete objectivity with respect to your needs.  In addition, unlike brokers and agents, RIA firms are obligated by law to act always in the best interest of their clients. 


Planning:  Retirement, Estate and Taxes
One of the most important aspects of retirement planning is actually doing the planning.  Whether for individuals, a family trust or your employer retirement plan, the process of selecting appropriate investments cannot begin until appropriate goals are established.  In addition, Guidance Tax Service, and Guidance Insurance Services are integrated with Guidance Wealth to help find ways to save you more, and also help protect your wealth from unforeseen circumstances.


Direct Access and Communication
When calling our office, you won’t need to enter personal information into the phone keypad.  You have direct access to your advisor and your account.  You always have the ultimate authority and control over your money.


Security of Client Assets
Investors should be concerned about how their money is handled and, more importantly, how it is secured.  From time to time investment scandals make the news, though it should also be noted that many of these criminal acts were perpetrated by firms which also had the ability to custody their clients’ assets internally, giving them the unique ability to directly manipulate client account values without third party supervision. 

Guidance Wealth does not retain or self-custody any client assets.  All client assets are custodied in the client’s name at Fidelity, Schwab, Reliance Trust, and other large financial trust institutions.  Neither our advisors nor staff can accept cash from a client for any reason, and deposit checks from clients are always required to be made payable directly to the respective custodians.

Our clients always have ultimate authority over disposition of their assets, and have direct access to their account via phone or internet.  At no time can client assets be moved or transferred, either to or from client accounts, without client authorization and detailed oversight/tracking of such movement by the asset custodian.   Any such movements will be recorded in the transaction history on client statements which come directly from the custodian.


Your Privacy
Our firm is privately held, and we primarily serve private individuals, families and their businesses.  Our highest priority is the privacy (and ultimately the security) of that information and your financial assets.  In addition our firm does our best to update our clients on industry recommended practices for guarding personal information from cyber threats.  Ultimately, we know that our firm’s reputation depends on not only your satisfaction with our advisory work, but on the continuous security of your personal information as well.


*Registered Investment Advisor registration does not imply any level of skill or training.